ATLANTA — Liars beware.
The Georgia General Assembly is in session, and a state senator wants to prohibiting lying in the state Capitol. Senator Jeff Mullis, a Chickamauga Republican who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, introduced Senate Resolution 459, which requests that everyone testifying “before the Senate tell the truth…”
His nothing but the truth proposal doesn’t say that his fellow senators and other elected officials should refrain from belching falsehoods if they want to cover any misdeeds or malfeasance.
The resolution, which hasn’t gained much traction in the Upper Chamber, is co-sponsored by four other truth seeking senators, including the holder of the District 18 seat, John F. Kennedy of Bolingbroke.
Meanwhile in the House of Representatives, state Representative Kim Schofield, an Atlanta Democrat, has introduced legislation that would forbid discrimination based on hair style and hair texture in Georgia. She’s called her proposal the “CROWN Act.” The acronym stands for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.”
Those with receding hair lines, including Sen. Mullis, wouldn’t be protected under the Schofield proposal. But bald heads covered with shaggy wigs would be under the protective umbrella of state law.
Back in the Senate, the truth-seeking resolution says that “testimony from members of the public is a critical part of the legislative process…” and that testimony could be the basis for which laws are passed.
So, “if the Senate determines that a person has lied in testimony before this body, appropriate punishment is necessary to insure public trust in the legislative process…”
“NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that all nonmembers of the General Assembly are most strongly requested to be truthful and honest in all testimony presented to this body and all of its committees.”
The proposal continues, saying if the Senate “determines that a nonmember of the General Assembly has lied in testimony presented to the Senate, or one of its committees, such person shall be subject to contempt and will be prohibited from presenting further testimony to this body for the remainder of the session in which untruthful testimony occurred.”
Repeat offenders, the proposal says, would be slapped with a “lifetime” ban from testifying to the Senate. It also says the lawmakers could turn the matter over law enforcement officials for prosecution.
The resolution doesn’t say what, if anything, should be done to any duly elected state Senator who would utter an untruth to people testifying before the committee.
Back in the state House, Schofield said in a press release that she’s sponsoring the CROWN Act because current law doesn’t protect “against discrimination for persons based on race as a protected class. Similar to other CROWN Acts that have been introduced and passed around the country, we are seeking to provide race-based protections against discrimination in the employment, housing and education sectors.”
Legislation protecting people from discrimination “against hair styles and textures” was first enacted in California in 2019, Schofield says in her news release. Other states have enacted similar laws since then.
Yep, lawmakers want to stop lying and discrimination. As the current maxim goes, you can’t make this stuff up.
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